Urgent Action: Deadline Saturday September 14th

The Mariner East pipeline, if approved and permitted, would carry natural gas liquids across Pennsylvania from the foul, heavily polluting MarkWest facility in western Pennsylvania, through southeastern PA to a terminal — not permitted yet — on the Delaware River. Please comment in the next 48 hours to oppose this project!

Are you fed up with people being made sick by the MarkWest facility in western Pennsylvania, which separates fracked gas in order to produce “natural gas liquids,” ethane and propane? Does a 300-foot tall fireball make you angry when it causes 80 families to be evacuated, creates a crater, and destroys a farmer’s crop? That’s what happened one month ago today when a natural gas liquids pipeline — like the Mariner East pipeline now applying for permits — exploded in Illinois. If you want to protect public health, and you don’t want any 300-foot-tall fireballs coming to the Delaware River or to a neighborhood near you, now is the time to speak up!

Clean Air Council has put out an alert enabling you to comment to oppose modifications to a pier enabling a natural gas liquids pipeline to carry the dangerous fuel to the Delaware River. You must submit comments to the Army Corps of Engineers by this Saturday, September 14th at midnight. The short 15-day comment period and the obscure notice made it hard for the public to participate, but Clean Air Council has made it easy:

The Army Corps of Engineers is soliciting public comments to gauge public interest and learn about issues of concern related to a natural gas liquids pipeline and facility expansion project in Marcus Hook, PA. The Mariner East Pipeline project and Marcus Hook facilities will ultimately allow for natural gas liquids (propane and ethane) from fracked gas in southwestern PA to be transported and processed in the Philadelphia area, where it will be processed, stored, and distributed to various domestic and waterborne markets.

Please voice your concerns about public health and safety and the environment:

If you like, please customize your email if you have a moment, using the following information:

* Ethane and propane are dangerous because they collect low to the ground, invisibly, when leaked or spilled. This makes natural gas liquids much more dangerous than gas, which disperses.

* These modifications do not include extra safety precautions related to ethane and propane leaking and spilling at the dock and on the river. This is not an appropriate project for the Delaware River.

* An incident on the Delaware River similar to the one that occurred one month ago today, with its 300-foot fireball, would cause much more damage and put at risk all traffic on the river and in the surrounding areas.

* The cumulative impacts to public health, the potential impacts to fish and wildlife, and the climate impacts must be considered in the permitting process, as well as safety.

On Monday, August 12th, around 11:15pm, in Erie, Illinois, a cornfield exploded, shooting flames upwards of 300 feet into the air and leaving a crater 15 feet deep, 20 feet wide, and 40 feet long in the field. The explosion was visible for 20 miles. 80 families were evacuated from their homes. Luckily, no one was hurt.

The explosion was a result of a rupture in the natural gas liquids pipeline that runs underneath the cornfield. The pipeline is owned and operated by Enterprise Products, a Houston – based company. According to Enterprise, the cause of the rupture and explosion are not yet known.

The photo is from Think Progress, which reported on the incident here.

Understood about fireballs, hydrocarbon and formaldehyde contaminated air and flowback brine sometimes radioactive as well as injection well earthquakes. But is protecting our water from ubiquitous, on going sewage and acid mine waste and steel mill toxins anywhere on your agenda?????????

This is an action alert specific to a Public Comment deadline tomorrow midnight. Please feel free to send any action alerts you like to us as we are incredibly responsive. We are all volunteer; and we are effective. What exactly are you doing to protect water and air, health and life? Please feel free to share! This alert is not known widely, so please feel free to share widely to support the project of protection. Thanks for your concern. These problems are very large and require all hands on deck!

I oppose the Mariner East Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline planned to come to southeastern Delaware County. Both ethane and propane gases are dangerous because they collect low to the ground, invisibly, when they are leaked or spilled, and this makes natural gas liquids much more dangerous than gas, which disperses.

In addition, the modifications being proposed do not include extra safety precautions related to ethane and propane leaking and spilling at the dock and on the river. This is not an appropriate project for the Delaware River.

An incident on the Delaware River similar to the one that occurred one month ago today, with its 300-foot fireball, would cause much more damage and put at risk all traffic on the river and in the surrounding areas.

The cumulative impacts to public health, the potential impacts to fish and wildlife, and the climate impacts must be considered in the permitting process, as well as safety.

Please do not let this project continue!

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